Citation
Kigali, 7 April 2025
I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on the Genocide against the Tutsi, which
originated from colonialism that imposed ethnic divisions, leading to the
preparation and execution of the genocide, witnessed by the international
community. A brief review of the history I will share shows that no country in
the world has spent 109 years destroying another like Belgium has done to
Rwanda.
It began in 1916, when Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom agreed to
redefine the borders of Rwanda, which had been expanded under KingRuganzu
II Ndoli (1600-1623) and King Kigeli II Nyamuheshera (1648-1692), reaching into
territories such as Masisi, Rutshuru, and others. What followed were
repressive laws, including the decree of 21 March 1917 instituting corporal
punishment, that of 26 July 1925 stripping Rwanda of its sovereignty, and the
law of 11 January 1926 stipulating that Rwanda would henceforth be governed
by Congolese law. These laws institutionalised injustice and sowed division
among Rwandans.
Between 1924 and 1946, Belgium signed agreements with the League of
Nations (and later the United Nations), undertaking to lead Rwanda:
• towards political autonomy; economic, social, and educational
development;
• towards capacity for self-governance;
• in accordance with human rights principles, without discrimination
based on ethnicity, gender, language, or religion.
These commitments were never upheld. Instead, Belgium introduced ethnic
divisions among the Rwandans, similar to what existed between the Flemish
and Walloons in their own country. Between 1926 and 1932, it initiated a social
revolution led by two Belgians, Voisin and Mortehan. King Musinga, who
opposed this move, was exiled to the Congo on 12 November 1931. He was
replaced four days later by Mutara III Rudahigwa, who agreed not to challenge
colonial authority, was baptised in 1943, and consecrated Rwanda to Christ
the King in 1946. Pope Pius XII awarded him a medal, which he received on 20
April 1947. In return, the colonial authorities granted Rudahigwa greater
freedom, enabling him to challenge injustice and advocate for independence,
actions that angered the colonisers. Governor Jungers and Brother Secondien,
head of the Butare College, then decided to eliminate him. Rudahigwa was
poisoned and died on 25 July 1959.
No other African country has seen two of its monarchs eliminated by colonial
powers.
Belgium later created the PARMEHUTU party, founded on ethnic ideology. This
party issued four successive manifestos (9 October 1959, 27 August 1961, 21
June 1964, and 7 June 1969), claiming that Rwanda belonged exclusively to the
Hutu and that the elimination of the Tutsi was government policy. On 3
November 1959, Colonel Logiest, assisted by Major Marlière, was dispatched
to Rwanda to abolish the monarchy, accompanied by Belgian and Congolese
troops.
On 12 November 1959, Logiest ordered the forced deportation of Tutsi to
specific areas particulary Bugesera. By the end of 1961, 13,890 people had
been displaced to Bugesera, living in horrible conditions. Despite repeated
pleas to return to their homes, Belgium refused. Some Tutsi tried to settle
discreetly in other areas but were driven out.
For example, on 1 August 1960, the Nyanza administrator, Emmanuel de
Jamblinne, wrote: “People expelled from the Gitarama are attempting to settle
in Mayaga. Expel them immediately. They cannot stay in Mayaga or anywhere
in the Nyanza area. They must go to Bugesera. Enforce these orders right away.
Their cattle must also be removed.”
On 17 November 1959, on the advice of Monsignor Perraudin, Logiest
summoned the administrators and ordered them to dismiss all Tutsi
employees and replace them with Hutu. He formalised this directive in a
circular dated 23 December 1959, describing it as “a favour granted to the
Hutu, so they may be governed by their own kind.” The UNAR party, which
advocated for independence, was falsely portrayed as a Tutsi-only,
communist, and anti-Catholic group despite its inclusive membership,
including its president - François Rukeba, and secretary general - Michel
Rwagasana.
On 23 June 1961, Belgium passed a contreversial amnesty law, releasing 2,000
individuals involved in the massacres between 1959 to 1961. The law specified
that those granted amnesty were individuals who:
• killed or burned people alive in their homes;
• slowly tortured or seriously injured others;
• organised or ordered looting and murders.
Ethnic discrimination persisted in the formation of the national army, created
by Colonel Vanderstraeten with Logiest’s approval on 29 September 1960:
“The national army shall be composed exclusively of Hutu. We shall not invoke
impartiality or democracy to admit a single Tutsi. Those attempting to join shall
be declared unfit. Although this policy is unjust, we do not wish to mix goats
with sheep. We refuse to integrate elements that could create problems within
our ranks.”
Belgian intelligence services voiced their concern in a report dated 30 April
1961: “In Rwanda, army recruitment is restricted to the Hutu. Once in
leadership, these forces prioritise Hutu allegiance over professional duty. We
consider it dangerous to entrust them with national security.”
General De Cumont, responsible for training Belgian officers, wrote to the
Minister of Defence on 27 November 1961: “Maintaining a policy that entrusts
Rwanda’s internal security and border protection to its army risks leading to
massacres that the UN could deem genocide thus exposing us to accusations
of complicity.”
In March 1962, the Rwandan army launched a wave of massacres in Byumba,
killing over 2,000 Tutsi, including nurse Claver Ndejuru, who was murdered in
Ngarama as reported by various international media. In December 1963, under
the command of Belgian officers Dubois, Florquin, Turpin, and Frans, the
Rwandan army perpetrated mass killings across the country, claiming the lives
of more than 35,000 Tutsi. Diplomats, missionaries, journalists, and foreign
researchers unanimously classified these atrocities as genocide.
A telegram from the Belgian ambassador dated 24 December 1963 stated:
“Many people are being illegally detained. I note that the situation is heading
towards a mass massacre of the Tutsi.” The French ambassador, Marc Barbey,
reported on 4 January 1964: “In the Gikongoro region, the Hutu have unleashed
violence against the Tutsi, massacring them indiscriminately. As of 25
December 1963, the number of victims had already reached 15,000.”
On 31 December 1963, the same Ambassador Barbey reported that ministers
had been dispatched to the prefectures to oversee the massacres: “The
government initiated the killing operations. They began with a campaign of
mobilisation within administrative structures: prefects, sometimes
accompanied by a minister, held meetings with burgomasters to instruct them
to ‘eliminate the enemy’.” These crimes, committed during Christmas 1963,
have endured in collective memory under the name “Bloody Christmas.”
Alarmed, Belgium issued a statement on 7 February 1964: “In light of the
accusations levelled against the Rwandan government, it is time, through our
embassy, to provide instructions to Belgian nationals in Rwanda regarding how
to respond to the extermination of the Tutsi. These massacres are attracting
international attention. Belgium must avoid being accused of complicity in this
genocide.”
On 1 July 1962, Belgium granted Rwanda nominal independence, swiftly
followed by a Constitution on 24 November 1962 that established a regime
exclusively reserved for the Hutu. This gave rise to discriminatory laws
excluding Tutsi from education and employment. On 17 January 1967, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lazaro Mpakaniye, issued a circular to embassies
and international organisations forbidding the employment of Tutsi.
Upon seizing power, Habyarimana adopted a new Constitution on 20
December 1978, drafted by Belgian Filip Reyntjens, which reinforced the policy
of excluding Tutsi. In October 1982, Uganda expelled Rwandan refugees, who
were then rejected by Rwanda. These injustices, only briefly mentioned here,
led to the formation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and the launch of the
national liberation struggle.
Belgium, France, and Congo sent troops to fight the RPF. On 1 and 4 October
1990, Habyarimana told the press: “Rather than surrendering a single inch of
our land, we shall fight to the last man. The Tutsi seek to restore their past
domination over this region. We have nowhere to put them. Let them stop
invoking their refugee status. They must take up citizenship wherever they are,
in Uganda or Zaire. If they are to come to Rwanda, it should only be for a brief
visit to their families.”
The Habyarimana regime demonised the RPF, calling them Inyangarwanda,
“blood-drinkers”, and “enemies of the nation.” Some Belgian and French
officials even refused to acknowledge the RPF fighters as Rwandans.
On 3 February 1991, Admiral Lanxade, Chief of Staff of the French Armed
Forces, wrote to President Mitterrand stating that the RPF was made of
“Ugandan Tutsi.” On 22 April 1991, he referred to them as “Ugandan Tutsi
rebels.”
France supported Habyarimana militarily, while Belgium gave political
backing. The Christian Democratic International (IDC) offered active support to
the MRND, even in its criminal undertakings. On 17 and 18 January 1991, the
IDC hosted an MRND delegation led by Habyarimana’s adviser, Enock
Ruhigira, who was received by Prime Minister Wilfried Martens. Alain De
Brouwer, IDC political leader, sent them a congratulatory letter on 28 January
1991, and wrote to Belgian Foreign Minister Marc Eyskens, urging cooperation
in the fight against the RPF. The MRND then appointed two coordinators for this
strategy: Speransiya Karwera Mutwe and Ferdinand Nahimana a central figure
in the planning of the genocide and head of RTLM.
On 12 March 1993, André Louis, the secretary general of IDC (main Belgian
political party, L’Internationale Démocrate Chrétienne), publicly expressed
support for Léon Mugesera’s speech inciting the murder of the Tutsi. On 21
January 1993, André Louis had travelled to France to meet with leaders of
Mitterrand’s party. They agreed to support the MRND, despite having full
knowledge of the genocide being prepared by the Habyarimana regime.
Between 19 January and 11 March 1994, Lieutenant Nees, head of Belgian
military intelligence at UNAMIR, wrote 29 reports warning of the impending
genocide. Yet, on 2 February 1994, Belgium expelled Queen Gicanda, who was
receiving medical care in the Belgian city of Nivelle. She returned to Rwanda
and was assassinated on 20 April 1994. Also despsite this prior information,
Tutsi refugees at ETO Kicukiro were abandoned by Belgian UNAMIR
peacekeepers on 11 April 1994.
In July 1994, some Belgian parliamentarians travelled to Goma and Bukavu to
meet the architects of the genocide. They advised them to form a government
and a political party, a plan documented in the paper Principles for the Prompt
Return of Rwandan Refugees (24 October 1994). It is in this context that the
FDLR emerged, which continues to commit genocidal crimes in the region in
collusion with the Congolese government and army.
Since 2000, the United Nations has adopted more than 40 resolutions
demanding the dismantling of the FDLR. MONUSCO was given this mandate
but has never fulfilled it, just as UNAMIR failed in 1993-1994, to prevent the
genocide. The European Union has also adopted resolutions calling for the
elimination of the FDLR, notably on 10 January 2008 and 8 December 2010. The
African Union likewise issued similar resolutions, including at the summit of
Heads of State in Libreville on 10 January 2005. It is unacceptable that
countries, misled by Belgian disinformation, rush to condemn Rwanda while
ignoring the manifest collusion between the DRC and the FDLR.
They invoke international law, but only from a Congolese perspective, ignoring
the repeated violations of Rwandan sovereignty and the plight of Congolese
Tutsi refugees, who were expelled by the FDLR and have been in exile for 31
years. These refugees are dismissed as “puppets.” This mindset mirrors how,
from 1990 to 1994, the Habyarimana regime labelled the RPF as “Ugandan
traitors.” It is also reflected in Mitterrand’s statement in July 1994: “In those
countries, a genocide is not too important.”
Since July 1994, Belgium remains the only European country where genocide
denial against the Tutsi is practised with impunity. Yet no one would dare to
deny the Holocaust without consequence. Both genocides, however, hold the
same legal status. Today, the reports used to malign Rwanda internationally
are authored by self-proclaimed Belgian “experts” who claim to understand
the country, despite having taken part in its historical destruction, notably by
drafting the Constitutions of 1962 and 1978, and the ethnic laws of the time.
One such individual, Filip Reyntjens, declares on social media that Rwanda
must be punished for its “arrogance”. Other countries, such as the United
Kingdom, still refuse to extradite or prosecute perpetrators of the genocide.
Your Excellency, Mr Presdient, the forces of destruction unleashed against
Rwanda over the past 31 years have been many. Yet they have not defeated us,
thanks to the leadership that has united us. Only those who have been through
it can truly speak about it (IJORO RIBARA UWARIRAYE).
We know from what place you have lifted Rwanda, a nation abandoned by the
international community, and we have witnessed the progress it has registered
under your leadership. The bond that unites us is sacred. We will not accept
those who destroy our unity, nor those who promote any ideology that would
return Rwanda to the dark past. Our right to live, and to choose what is right for
us, is inalienable. Those who undermine this right should understand this, and
let us be.
Thank you.
